PPTC “Tour du Gatorade” ride. Aside from two decent-sized climbs in the second half of the ride, it was mostly flat-to-slightly rolling terrain – perfect for setting a personal record for a century of 4:49:50 – blowing away my goal of 5 hours! Oh yeah! And I had enough left in the tank at the end that I could’ve gone another 40 or 50 miles without too much pain. I was driving the pace of the group over the last 15 to 20 miles (after the second rest stop), as they wanted to ease up. I wasn’t having any of that! So our tidy group of 9 became a fleet group of 4 over the last 5 miles, as I wanted to get a good PR in the books.

The ride finished not long before the skies opened up with some much-needed rain. The route was really great! I had no idea that it crossed into Pennsylvania (first time I’ve ever ridden a bike in PA – check that off my list). One of the PA border roads was built on the Mason-Dixon line – really cool! We also encountered a lot of riders from Pennsylvania-based and Baltimore-based clubs, which made for some funky pacelines. One of the groups we joined for a 6-mile stretch was a highly-regarded road team from the Gettysburg area, and they gave us a nice boost about 35 miles into the ride. I also saw many cows, horses, ponies, llamas, turkeys, and dogs (who loved to race alongside us – people in the farm country of MD and PA seem to feel that their dogs should just roam free). Additionally, I saw at least two great blue herons, and white wooly worms (how are you supposed to predict the winter with them?).

And to top it all off: as I drove home, I saw a glider, riding the thermals over Frederick – too cool.